You'll have to pardon me if today's post is a little raunchier than usual but I'm still reeling from a world dominated by Hannah Montana and need a little, you know, balance. Balance, in this case, comes in the form of porn stars stepping into 'legitimate' film all around the world.
It's the 'in' thing, you know -- casting directors hoping for a little underground cache by putting someone who takes it off for a living into a key role of their film, while the stars get to make something they can actually show their mothers.
Sasha Grey is the poster child of the porn-star-gone-mainstream right now with not one but two legit films currently in the pipeline. Up first is Smash Cut, an intentionally camp tribute to the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis from Ottawa director Lee Demarbre (Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter) with horror icons David Hess and Michael Berryman. And then, of course, there's Grey's other, much higher profile picture, The Girlfriend Experience, in which she plays a high-priced call girl for director Steven Soderbergh. From hardcore porn to a lead role with an Oscar-winning director? Strange but true -- the film's done and coming soon...
And it's not just western directors playing the porn star game. When the producers of Taiwan's first ever slasher film -- Invitation Only -- decided they needed a little extra oomph to attract attention, they went out and cast Maria Ozawa in a key role. The multi-ethnic performer -- she's part Canadian apparently, go us -- has built a large and loyal following throughout a career of hardcore porn in Japan. And when the Japanese say hardcore, they mean it, so Google with care. Speaking of Japan, producer Yoshi Nishimura -- best known as the director of Tokyo Gore Police and one of Japan's leading special effects men -- went and put porn idol Aino Kishi in the lead of upcoming splatter flick Samurai Princess for precisely the same reason. Giving her exploding breast grenades was a nice touch.
It's not just the ladies getting in on the act, either. Ron Jeremy (for the love of God, why would anyone ever pay to see this man naked?) has done a few non-porn things in the past and is now the leading man in a horror-comedy clearly designed to play directly off of his better known public persona. It's called One Eyed Monster. You can probably work out where they're going with this.
But you know, legitimate career calling or not, sometimes the allure of porn is just too strong to resist. Either that or Soderbergh isn't paying Sasha Grey enough to live on. If you thought/feared that The Girlfriend Experience would be the end of Grey's porn career, you were mistaken: she's next starring in a Hustler-produced Star Trek knock-off in which she plays a lusty Vulcan who boffs Kirk in the transporter room. Engage!